Photo: It’s Nation Time. Amiri Baraka. Black Forum Records (Motown). 1972.
NOTE THAT THIS IS THE UPDATE FOR THE DAY SECTION: IF YOU’RE IN THE DAY SECTION, SEE THE POST FOR YOUR CLASS
General Announcements:
- NY African Diaspora International Film Festival runs from 11/25-12/11. course-related highlights are documentaries on Lowndes County (11/26, 29), Ella Baker (Schomburg, 11/29), Fannie Lou Hamer (Schomburg, 11/29), Sonia Sanchez (Baruch College, 11/30). Early reservations are highly recommended–especially for free documentary film screenings! Details at their site
Course Announcements:
- IN-CLASS QUIZ ON SECTIONS OF CHAPTER 6 MONDAY 11/21! [Note new and final date!]
- Sections 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, and 6.7
- Focus on Ghetto/ghettoization, race, class, culture, pathology, Black family, and relations and quality relations & “the connections”
- NO CLASS MEETING ON WEDNESDAY 11/23 (Day before the big holiday. Check schedules for you other classes, which might still meet)
- Prof. Williams Zoom live chat hours: Monday/Wednesday from 4-5 PM! on Zoom here. Or call: +1 929 205 6099 then add meeting ID: 528 450 5381. Or drop by Carman 291.
Quick highlights from Week 12 (11/14, 11/16)’s class:
- FINISHED the parts of Chapter 6 on the Black Family and relationships in Maulana Karenga’s Introduction to Black Studies (pages 250-268).
- My lecture notes are in the usual spot
- See the PBS series Race: the Power of an Illusion for a quick overview of housing segregation/wealth accumulation in the US. Lots of good stuff at the companion website. Housing discrimination in the US by official government policy as an example of institutional racism (racism supported/done by official institutions/governments.) See a 30-minute clip on Vimeo.
- Selected additional resources: Delores Aldridge’s books Focusing, Focusing, Focusing: Black Male-Female Relationships and Our Last Hope: Black Male-Female Relationships in Change.
- Clenora Hudson-Weems’s “Africana Womanism: an Overview” (PDF on the Readings page)
DO THIS for week 13
Monday November 21
Quiz on sections of chapter 6
Read SECTIONS of chapter 7 (Black Politics) in Maulana Karenga’s Introduction to Black Studies.
Read sections 7.2 (Politics in the US Context) and -7.3 (Party politics) for Monday
Wednesday November 23
Class will not meet.
What to read for:
Chapter 7 takes a broad look at political engagement from Kemet to the experience in the US. Think about what rooting political responses in ancient texts does. Review the “Crusian Paradigm” from chapter 6 on social organization and think about how that relates to/shapes political engagement. Also think about how the chapter frames political engagement as more than just the electoral process–and indeed what goes into the electoral process behind the scenes.
Focus on the expectations of Black elected officials and then compare that with the limitations on what they can sometimes do
General reading strategies:
- Underline/highlight key points in the text
- Use the reading questions at the back of chapters to focus you: read those first
- Try to understand the definitions of the key concepts listed at the back of the chapter
- Make a note to ask the instructor to clarify anything you don’t understand
- Note key issues, approaches, and dilemmas/challenges Dr. Karenga outlines
Discussion questions
- See chapter/essay highlights above
What’s Next?
Second half of chapter 7 (Politics) in Introduction to Black Studies
Introduction to Africana Studies 